


Five Nights at Sliske's

by ZorialDiamond



Series: Five Nights at Sliske's [1]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's, Runescape
Genre: Breaking the Fourth Wall, Crossover, Gen, Horror, Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-09-18 02:28:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9361856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZorialDiamond/pseuds/ZorialDiamond
Summary: One adventurer wanted to investigate the legend of the Barrows. One adventurer wanted to free their imprisoned souls. One poor adventurer found herself trapped in their captor's game.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Whew, so this is my first major crossover and it's a cross between Runescape (my usual fandom) and Five Nights at Freddy's. Trust me, it works better than it sounds like.

Soli Deo Gloria 

Trapped.

Most of them there were trapped for centuries, literally ghosts of their former selves, left to haunt about the underground crypts. The catacombs crawled with overgrown maggots, with spiders as large as a man's torso, and with leeches that made a disgusting gurgling sound. The musty odor and dust that pervaded the place had a suffocating air. 

What was it like, having power and might to be able to fight those they considered enemies, only to have mind and body rot away? To have their life stolen away by the very artifacts that gave them the strength they needed to further Saradomin's cause?

Many an adventurer ventured down into the catacombs, hoping to take these artifacts for themselves and live another day. Perhaps they needed it, perhaps they just sought fame and glory and let greed consume them.

One such adventurer ventured into the dead lands of Morytania, past Canifis and Mort Myre's winding swamp, itself filled with ghasts that had once been men. She had heard of this; she came prepared with the blessings of druids and priests. This one indeed was also very familiar with the terrain of the land once called Hallowvale, at least in passing and in story from her parents. She was coated in shining rune armor, with a pair of vicious red dragon longswords crossed across her back, a rare trimmed strength pendant shining around her neck. Her skin was fair, almost a deathly pale, her hair tied into a jet-black bun, her eyes a simple hazel brown. 

_Why am I back here again..._ She thought to herself, resting in an abandoned building she had boarded up away from all the shades that inhabited the village of Mort Myre, her eyes and expression generally pensive. _Your family moved to Ashdale to escape from this wretched place, this wasteland. Why are you back again?_

Then she remembered. The Barrows.

She had heard rumors about them and heard snatches of the tale of the six brothers, Ahrim, Torag, Verac, Guthan, Karil, and Dharok, how they were fearsome warriors who died according to a horrible curse, despite their great power. Perhaps it was a morbid curiosity to discover what happened to them that drew her to this place, this place that was in the southern reaches of a land where the dead could not find rest. The Barrows Brothers were particularly restless due to that curse. Maybe if she could find the source of the curse, she reasoned, she could send their worthy souls to Saradomin and put them out of their misery.

 

Armed with a spade and with heroic resolve, she descended into the southernmost mound of the grave, the anxiety in her bones starting to rise. Despite the power the ferocious longswords and her faith had displayed in times past, would it be enough? They were well polished and sharpened, and she made sure to worship before entering into the reaches of Morytania.

However, whereas others told her that simply touching the coffins of the dead would awaken their enraged spirits to fight, there was no response from the tomb of Ahrim, the eldest brother.

"This...is strange." She said to herself out loud.

She made her way out of the catacombs and out of the lightly oppressive atmosphere, then toiling by digging into all the other tombs, and finding that these indeed gave no response as well. She had found a tunnel in the last coffin she had checked, Verac's, that led deeper into the catacombs.

She lowered herself by a rope and found herself in an atmosphere that not only wore on her senses but seemed to sap her will to pray just enough to disturb her. _I'll just...have to be more steadfast..._ she reasoned.

However, suddenly a chill ran through the air, and a tall, dark figure appeared to the young adventurer woman, catching her by surprise.

"Well, hello there." He said, coming out of the shadows, revealing a silvery face that was human enough to be familiar but inhuman enough to be disturbing. So also were the piercing and mischievous yellow eyes, with a detailed purple robe that seemed to be inspired by that of Egyptian pharaohs and bearing strange faces and symbols throughout its elaborate design.

"Who are you? Where are the Barrows Brothers?" Alcana asked, confused yet somewhat indignant. 

"My name is Sliske, and I am the master of the Barrows. Oh, the brothers you're looking for are here, they're just not where you adventurers would usually find them. It gets so boring, watching them come in, take the wights down, and have their little treasure before rinsing and repeating." Sliske said in a droning tone, finishing up his tired-sounding rant with a yawn.

"So, I decided I would show you adventurers a new game, one which you can't just find a strategy guide online for." He said, with a bit of suspicious joy, while Alcana just looked at him dumbfounded.

"What on Saradomin's beard is an online strategy guide?" Alcana said, her voice quivering.

"Oh, nevermind." Sliske said, sighing and shaking his head.

"Here are the rules of the game." He said, waving his hands and placing barriers around the room the young adventuress was in, and several orbs on stands. "You'll be here for five straight days and nights. When nighttime strikes, the brothers will wander about the chambers looking for you, and if one of them catches you, well, you'll become another one of my wights. However, if you survive, then you'll get what all you adventurers are cramming in here for." The crafty Mahjarrat said with an uncanny neutral tone, while Alcana just stared at him blankly.

"But...how..." She said with her voice raised and eyes wide. "Can I fight them?" However, she noticed that at some point he had taken her dragon longswords away.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll sprinkle some tips on how to avoid them the longer you survive." Sliske said, appearing to attempt to juggle Alcana's dragon longswords along with another random orb, speaking with all the connivery and over-promise of a snake-oil salesman. "After all, if you just die on the first night, well, that'll be no fun at all." He then said, with all the mourning tone of a rich person losing the economic output of a dead slave, as he let the the swords and orb drop to the ground and then just dissapear.

"Hey, those costed around 200k!" Alcana protested.

"And, by the way, your first night starts....now!" Sliske said, with a bit of mocking laughter, snapping his fingers before vanishing in a puff of smoke as quickly as he had come, leaving Alcana with a feeling of dread in her stomach and a chill in her bones.

_I have no choice...I have to survive._


	2. The First Night

~THE FIRST NIGHT~

After Alcana had recovered enough sanity from the shock, she took some deep breaths to calm herself, said a little prayer to Saradomin for safety and prudence, and cautiously examined the orbs on stands the Mahjarrat had left for her.

Upon closer examination, they seemed to be monitoring various parts of the lower chambers barrows, to varying degrees. She watched the twisted creatures scuttle past, and tried to adjust the view on it, but realized the range of the scrying orbs were fairly fixed. And, it seemed like the view was mostly dark as well; she would have to train her eyes to see anything meaningful. 

_It looks like I'll have to move around from orb to orb to get different views._

After getting used to what the baseline feed was from the orbs, Alcana started to examine her surroundings more, getting used to the ambient sounds of the environment, such as the squelching and skittering of the insects, and the slight echoes through the chamber. While still unnerving at the time, and the smell making her face scrunch up and dust making her sneeze and making her eyes water, she figured that if she really wanted to live, she would get used to this. Eventually. It was only for five days and nights, after all.

That is, if she could even trust what her captor had said. 

Then she examined the space and general layout of the room. It was not much bigger than a small kitchen, with a locked door in the center that she heard led to the treasury. She fiddled around with the door, and and she tentatively walked up to the two chambers on the sides, finding that a magic barrier stopped her from going further like the puppetmaster had said.  Thankfully, there weren't many living things in this room. At least, not now.

That moment, she swore she could hear the tinkling of chain armor and a slight whisper near her, which caused her to bolt behind some of the orbs in a shot of adrenaline and panic, in the hopes that maybe the darkness would obscure her location if one of the brothers decided to make his presence known.

_Go away...Go away...go away...._ She shivered, curled up into a small ball, before realizing that the sound was gone for about five minutes or so, and all she could really hear was the squeaking of rats too big for their own good.

_Okay, breathe again. Things seem to be calm now...for now._ She said, getting up slowly, attempting to recompose herself before trying to establish some semblance of order checking the scrying orbs. 

 

For a while things were relatively quiet, which was simultaneously comforting and unnerving.

_Check the orbs again, check the orbs again._

 

Nothing again, nothing again, nothing again for eternity, it seemed.

 

_Are these just a trick that don't really show me anything at all? It seems that way. All the areas just look the same._

_Maybe just one more look._

 

She approached the orb in the center, only to have her vision flooded with a flash of pink that caused her to scream and take a few steps about three meters back despite her armor.

 

_Well, at least I know where...one of the brothers is... I think._

 

She was on her feet again, moving through the views a bit more anxiously, once again seeing nothing, seeming to taunt her.

 

_I hate this...I hate this..._

 

However, as she went to check them again, suddenly the orbs lit up in multiple colors like a seizure inducing disco, temporarily blinding Alcana. Sliske walked into the chamber, with a golf clap ready for her as the lights died down and she could see again.

"Well done, well done, not that you were actually in any danger tonight anyway! You really should have listened to what I said." He said, with an air of mock congratulation, throwing some confetti around the chamber and blowing a party whistle before crossing his arms and staring into her eyes, the yellow seeming to bore itself into her soul. "I said I didn't want you dying on your first night, after all. I hope you learned enough about how this game works to survive tomorrow. But for now...try and take a load off, won't you?" Sliske said, with a haunting smile. "After all, you'll need your rest for tomorrow night."

Then Sliske walked away into the shadows again, leaving Alcana with what appeared to be rations of some kind and a simple straw sleeping mat, nothing but a few rats to keep her company.


	3. The Second Night

~THE SECOND NIGHT~

Of course, Sliske probably knew that Alcana was too on edge to actually get any restful sleep at all.

She only managed to nap out a broken three hours of sleep, leaving her with a headache and a slightly tense stomach, more of an irritation at present than a real source of worry. Those rations weren't quite enough, and Alcana wasn't desperate enough yet to try eating some of the rats.  
One of the orbs, the central orb, lit up and projected Sliske's hooded face in a way Alcana could clearly see, causing a light flurry of paranoia, anger, and fear to rise up in her soul.

"Well, I hope you got the rest you needed. Tonight... a few more of the brothers will be active. I would be a bit more wary of the weight you're carrying around if I were you...the wights can hear you, after all. And you can hear them. If you died tonight, I should seriously wonder if you could actually accomplish anything of merit as an adventurer. Anyhow...good luck! And I hope to see you still alive in the morning."

With that, the projection fuzzed out, and Alcana stood up from her sleeping mat, interpreting Sliske's advice as needing to take off her plate and chain armor. After all, if merely being caught meant she was an undead wight and she couldn't fight that, there was no use wearing heavy and noisy armor, leaving her with nothing but fairly simple and chaste base clothes. (Get your mind out of the gutter!)

First the orbs, the orbs.  She looked through them, starting to judge the general architecture of the catacombs as several chambers oriented around a central treasury united by various hallways and catacombs, although she couldn't tell as of yet where her room was in relation to the others.  
Perhaps if she was alive by the next morning, she would attempt to construct some kind of a map. 

_It would help if I could see more...wait, the orbs gave off light multiple times already. But maybe then I wouldn't be able to observe what's going on...if I can even get that to work._

After checking through them again and finding Torag lingering around a chamber she assumed was the northeast corner of the complex, she picked up that particular orb carefully and rubbed it and tapped it a bit, trying to get it to work, but with no response. She heard a rustle, which caused her to dash to a dark corner again, just in case one of the brothers she hadn't seen decided to pay her a visit. However, the effort wore her out, as the orb felt like it weighed a ton and if she dropped it on herself, she risked injury that would significantly impede her ability to flee.

_These really are heavy...and if I need to move them around to see anything, then I'll have to be careful. It's either moving around or lighting the chamber. And won't the brothers notice me if there's a light shining? Sliske did only mention they could hear me, not see. And it seems like so far he's being honest, as he was right about me not dying on the first night..._

She put the orb back on its stand for now, concluding that she wasn't in control of when they gave off light. 

Then her eye caught a snatch of purplish pink out of the corner of her eye and strange whispers once again, which caused Alcana to flee swiftly, checking the orbs when she had a chance to in the darkness. 

_Who was that? Where is he going?_

Checking the orb that seemed to be nearest to the left corridor from her estimation, she then saw Verac move away and dissappear.

_...Well, that's just great. They're cursed ghosts that can appear and disappear at will, what should I have expected? Saradomin help me..._

She continued through the scan of the orbs, it occuring to her that if she hid in the corner too long, one of the brothers could easily make it into the room when she wasn't looking.  
There must be some way to win, however. There has to. 

Perhaps the worst part of being down here was just that she had no way of knowing how late in the night it was, at least not one she hadn't discerned yet. If this was in fact a game, a game has rules it functions by, rules that Sliske seemed to bind himself to. If he had only wanted to kill her, there would be no reason to set up this elaborate game.

Maybe it was for selfish reasons, yes, but still reasons. She had no reason to believe there wasn't a way for gauging the time. She wasn't sure the precise evidence she had for believing this, just that it was something necessary.

Then, she noticed that some of the skittering creatures were oddly silent. 

_I wonder if the change in the sound means anything..._ She then noticed some of the rats seeming to be fast asleep, twitching a bit as if in deep sleep. _Maybe if I notice a pattern of the sounds of the creatures, I can get my bearings with time. Another thing to draw up tomorrow-_

Slamming her lips shut to stop herself from screaming, she bolted to the corner once again as she temporarily met the steely glare of an undead Karil that had snuck in while she wasn't looking, a cocktail of stress hormones now running through her veins. She couldn't even risk hyperventilating or breathing, lest the shade hear her.  The tension built up inside as she watched from the shadows, watching as the pink wight then slowly made his way out again. 

She could just imagine Sliske sitting off at a distance somewhere, laughing at her trying to navigate the strange and cruel situation she found herself in. She wondered momentarily just how much control he had over them and if he was directing them through the barrows like puppets on a string.

Once Karil was out of sight, she flipped through the orbs rampantly, having to still remain calm despite the anxiety that was buzzing through her. She confirmed that indeed, he had left, and had vanished once again upon reaching the chamber she judged to be northwest from her own.  
Now, she got a sense of comfort, knowing at least somewhat where the three brothers were, Karil, Torag, and another whom she couldn't precisely identify but whom had shown up on the scrying orb from time to time. 

_I heard chain armor yesterday, that possibly narrows it down to Guthan or Ahrim, who both had some kind of chain in their armor, if I remember correctly._

Learning from her mistake, she checked once again, Torag now dissapeared but Karil reappearing by the northernmost chamber, and far away from her. 

The rats in the chamber seemed to wake and grow more restless as the night wore on, as Alcana's suspicions of Guthan's presence were confirmed by an encounter that she was much more prepared for, having spotted him before he made a pass at her temporary abode.

_It can't be much longer....It can't..._

Her body seemed to grow cold and paralyzed as she spotted Torag once again, only for the orbs to light up like the rainbow again, the brother having dissapeared when the lights died down and Sliske's face was projected from the central orb.

"Hmm, it seems I've underestimated you a bit, miss adventurer. You're better at this game than I thought. Oh, but you should have seen your face there..." he said, with a bit of glee, "you almost lost. But thankfully the game ended for the night in time. But you'll find a better way to win...eventually. See you again tomorrow night. Ta-ta." He waved in a fashion like a schoolgirl that just seemed plain wrong coming from him as the projection faded out.

And seemingly from nowhere, confetti rained down from the chamber, as well as rations that were incrementally better than the ones she got the previous night.

Alcana recomposed herself to the extent she could, the stress temporarily dissipating from her system, as she knew she had a chance to sleep (at least for a little while) and compose the information. 


	4. The Third Night

~THE THIRD NIGHT~

In the corner of the room that held her bed and her rations, she used one of the pointy ends of her strength pendant as a makeshift pen to scrawl down a crude map and notes in the dirt after she had gotten about four hours of sleep, making more notes about what she had remembered about the brothers and about elements of the game, particularly the sounds she remembered hearing at certain times of night as a potential gauge of time. 

_Spiders tend to be more active earlier in the night, there tends to be a lull in the middle of the night, and the rats grow more restless close to the end of the night. So I'll probably want to watch the rats. But of course, when they're making sounds, it's harder to hear where the brothers are. I could even try and time my movements with other sounds in the catacombs so there's less chance of me being caught if it gets dicey._

While her sleep cycle was disrupted, she assumed the creatures down here had one of their own that was much more well-adjusted than hers.

She also, in a bit of boredom, fiddled with the puzzle lock on the treasury door, only to find that even when she solved it (it really wasn't that difficult at all), all that happened was the appearance of a note that slid out of some previously unforeseen slot on the door that read:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
_Do you really think you'll be getting your reward that easily, miss adventuress? No, that would be cheating. Beat all five nights, and then you'll get to come in here. I believe in you._

_Charmed,_

_Sliske_  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking over the note, she didn't know whether to feel complimented, or just further unsettled; with Sliske it was really hard to tell. But then she realized she had a way of condensing her notes, which she then just realized would probably be wrecked by a mad dash around the chamber at night. 

_(No BGM, once again creepy ambience of your choice)_

Just as she was only about halfway done condensing things however, the light came on the central orb and the silver face and purple hood of her host appeared once again.

"Busy planning for the next night, are we? How smart of you. All but one of the six brothers will be roaming about tonight, miss adventuress. It will be quite enlightening to see how you perform, that is, unless the light of discovery blinds you.  But, what happens if you catch someone by the whites of their eyes...Oh, I wonder if you'll figure this one out too!" 

The projection faded out to Sliske's creepy laughter, and the feeling of dread and adrenaline returned to Alcana after a brief respite.

_Five of the brothers are active... and a lot of cryptic references to light. Could this mean that the orbs will light at will tonight?_

She heard whispers again, and a face of Karil flashed across her mind, immediately leading her to hide, then trying to check the scrying orbs once again, only to find that Karil was nowhere to be found near her room.

_Did I just imagine that or did he really appear and dissapear that quicky? At least the ghosts appeared to be constrained physically in some ways..._

For a moment she swore she could hear the sound of metal clanking against armor, and caught a faceful then of the axe wielding warrior Dharok from enough of a distance to hide, worrying that another brother might come from the other direction, leading her to try to check the orbs from a distance.

When she tried that, however, the orb lit up, casting light into the dark place she was hiding, and exposing her for the wights to see.

_Shoot...that's precisely when I DON'T want it to activate._

In the moment Alcana did so, the axe-wielding brother made his way into the chamber, where the adventuress once again curled up in the shadows, hoping against hope she wouldn't be caught, stuck in that spot for what felt like hours.

She took out one tentative step to discover that yes, in fact, Dharok had gone, which led to her breathing heavily. 

_Now it's either looking for the brothers or risking being looked at..._

Now she only glanced at the orbs momentarily, little flashes of light in the chamber, each one making her stand on edge as she checked through. 

_Torag's far away from me, Dharok seems to have vanished, Guthan is somewhat close, Karil-_  
She hid again in the darkness as she watched the ranger walk through the room, looking at the shadows where she was as she clamped down her mouth, and he passed through.

_Whew...that was another close one. Which of the other five is out today?_

Just as she caught a momentary break, she noticed Ahrim at the chamber to the right of her own, which once again led her to bolt into the darkness with  her heart pounding. Her sweat had slowly been soaking through her clothes as the night went on, and she was hardly able to even breathe right lest one sound alert the brothers to where she was.

_Please be gone...Please be gone...I feel like I'm going to suffocate before they catch me..._

Once she was fairly certain he was gone, she flipped through the orbs briefly, fairly certain again that enough brothers were far enough away from her. 

_It's quiet...which means I'm about at the middle stretch of the night now. A few more hours to go...._

For a little while it seemed to be calm enough as Alcana caught her breath, having to hide a few times from a surprise visit from Guthan and Torag once again, but this time being more prepared and as such, less startled and frightened.

_This seems too easy...now... I'm almost getting used to this, strange as it sounds. But...since it's more quiet... Ahrim!_

Once again, she was in the shadows, feeling like she was suffocating.

_Just as I thought..._

As she blinked though, strange images seemed to flash through her mind, seeing scenes of battle seemingly from an age long ago.

_Is this another distraction...? Am I just imagining this?_ She thought, hiding again, once again a bit anxious due to the limited amount of breathing she could do.

_Please save us..._ She heard, seemingly to the right of her, looking and remembering, right, there's just a wall there.

_I must be starting to go crazy...Seeing things...hearing things...Saradomin help me..._

Then, as if as an answer to her prayers, the rats began to stir.

_Oh, thank the God of Order, the night's almost done..._

With that thought in mind, despite the suffocating odor, Alcana recovered the determination to continue.

_Guthan and Torag seem to be near to the chamber again...Dharok and Ahrim far away, and Karil nowhere to be seen._

Once again, though, more of the images began to appear in her mind, broken, and somewhat mangled, but clear enough for her to discern great fields of battle, against hordes of vampyres, against all manners of armies and unspeakable creatures. Battles with the six brothers at the helm.

_How dare you disturb us..._ Another whisper echoed, this time as Ahrim made a pass near her chamber, where she hid again, less anxious, and more confident.

_Now, now, you can't let your pride consume you..._

The rest of the night seemed to fade away into a tense blur, interspersed with the occasional jump and shot of stress even seeing a face of one of the brothers on the orb entailed.

_I will survive...one day I'll get out of here and save you from that silver-faced wretch...._

The orbs lit up with a rainbow of colors once again, leading Alcana to breathe a sigh of relief, and then steel herself for when Sliske's face would appear again, which it did.

Also appearing were his torso and arms and hands, which strangely enough were playing with some small plushies, one of them a brown bear in a top hat, a yellow bird-like creature with a bib, a red fox with an eyepatch and hook, and a purplish-indigo bunny with a strange instrument she'd never seen before that resembled a red lute. Sliske seemed to be playing with them just before the night was out. Sliske seemed to be absorbed in what he was doing until he looked and saw Alcana.

"Oh....Hello there, miss adventuress, you didn't see me playing with my plushies." He  said with somewhat shifty eyes and almost immediately pushed them out of view.

"Are you so bored with my torment and their torment that you have the gall to play with DOLLS?!" Alcana said, with barely concealed rage, her hands involuntarily balling up into fists and her body tense not just from playing the game all night.

"What did I say, miss adventuress? And I never did get your name." Sliske said with a more flat affect.

"It's Alcana Theresus, faithful follower of the Lord Saradomin." She said, with a bit more control.  "And one day I'm going to let your wights go free." 

"Alright then, Miss Alcanta." He said, seeming to go from being creepily joyful one moment to dreadfully serious in the next without warning. "There are many who have tried to fight me over the years. Yes, even some who were chosen and touched by the gods, even the gods themselves. Not one has succeeded so far. I highly doubt you can succeed where they have failed." Sliske retorted in a way that made Alcana's blood run cold and made her wonder momentarily if praying would even do any good.

_No. I must remain steadfast. I must believe!_

With that, Sliske's face vanished once again, and half as many rations as the previous day appeared in the chamber, as well as some sparse confetti.

_Who is this monster...._


	5. The Fourth Night

~THE FOURTH NIGHT~

Once again, Alcana could hardly sleep, and hunger and exhaustion began to become more of a factor. She also wasn't entirely certain of her sanity at this point. She had no idea that madness could set in on a mind this quickly.

There were too many thoughts racing through her head for her brain to sort through it all. From the ongoing revelations of the Barrows Brother's past, digesting the lessons of the previous night to form a plan for the fourth, and just the haunting purple-hooded silver face of that beast interspersed through everything. 

What other atrocities had he committed? If he treated something like this as a game, as mere entertainment, what else did he treat like a game too? The killing of heroes? The killing of innocents? Subjugating all of Gielinor to his whim?

And how much power did she have to stop him if he could trap her in a situation like this without her being able to oppose him?

_I can't let his taunts get under my skin. I can't...I can't....my life and that of Gielinor's depends on it. What could this monster do with the rest of Gielinor? With my friends and family? Saradomin, help us..._

A lot of that time, she simply spent praying. That was the only way for her to retain her sanity, she reasoned, and combat the mind games of Sliske. She clutched her strength pendant, which while not exactly the shape of Saradomin's star, was close enough for her purposes, she thought.

_Please...please help me survive this and give me the strength to defeat this monster...._

The central orb lit up sooner than she expected it to.

"Good evening, Miss Alcanta. I see you're a rather pious one...I'm afraid your prayers have a significantly decreased chance of working down here. Anyhow...you know enough about how this game works. All six of the brothers will be looking for you. I hope to see you alive in the morning." Now, his pleasantries just seemed like insult to injury. They weren't really him. She saw the true face of the snake beyond his mask.

_I don't believe you..._ She thought as his projection fuzzed out once again.

_It's just...one more night after this one._

_Check the orbs first, get a feel for where everyone is._

Now there was a method to her madness, the orb's flashes now oddly comforting despite the fact they would remove her hiding space if one of the brothers got near.

_If I know where they are, I don't need to worry about that too much. Only if one vanishes will that really be a problem._

There was no doubt that the appearance of the brothers was certainly startling, and she knew the consequences, but now was born a resolve that despite the madness willed her to live

_It seems Ahrim and Dharok are closest, one at the west chamber and one at the east. Torag is at the north chamber and farthest away, Verac and Guthan both in the northeastern, and Karil at the northwest, and... who is that? Wait, weren't there only six barrows brothers? Why are there seven here?! Did Sliske capture someone else in this sick game too?!_

For a moment, Alcana lost her focus as rage bubbled up in her soul, which gave Dharok and opportunity to get by the chamber, which thankfully having caught it on the scrying orb gave her enough time to hide.

More whispers came into her ears, and more visions into her mind, which she couldn't tell if Sliske was sending them somehow to taunt her, or they were from the brothers as a cry for help. Either way, there was no choice but to carry on. 

As she dodged Karil making a stroll through the chamber again and Guthan and Ahrim deciding to visit at the same time, slowly across her mind a vision of the brothers being greeted by a dark figure she only assumed was that beast manifested. While she couldn't hear their words, she watched in her mind's eye as they gained their signature armor, a moment that made her cringe. Anything that...that monster gave anyone was likely to be sealed with a curse, the same curse that would haunt them.

_You're not getting me...I'm setting you free one day._

She thought, hiding in the shadows once again as Verac decided to pay a visit, before making another visit to the orbs again, noting that Verac had dissapeared, Guthan was on the move, and the unknown...the unknown was moving too, slowly, almost reluctantly. 

_No...I won't lose... She began to sweat more and more._

Part of her wanted to cringe and curl up into a ball and cry as visions of the brothers slowly rotting away streamed into her mind. 

_No...you monster...you monster...no..._

_I have...I have to play...If I cry and make a sound, I'm dead...._

She started to sweat all the more intensely, hiding from Guthan before returning to checking the orbs with twitchy and anxious fingers.

_Who are you, seventh brother.... I can't...let...that monster...win again!_

With tears starting to leak out her eyes and mingle with her sweat, she carried on. And on, and on, as the skittering of the insects started to die down.

_About...one third done...Saradomin help me..._

While she thought her exhaustion would play into this, it seems like her determination combined with adrenaline seemed to let her completely ignore this for a while, developing a rhythm she wasn't even sure was possible under any other circumstances, something that she immediately thought was a prayer answered.

_I'll have to leave an especially big offering once I get out of this...as a token of my appreciation...._

For a while, it seemed to be oddly silent, as no brothers were making a move towards her position for a little while, which Alcana took as an opportunity to rest. 

One period that was immediately negated by another vision and a whisper flashing across her mind.

_How dare you disturb us..._

_That's Ahrim, hide!_ She thought, as this time her mind seemed to be filled with the process of the barrows actually being created, something that seemed to be comparatively banal. 

_Of course, the more I focus on the visions, the more I can't focus on staying alive....as much as I want to learn what happened..._

_Hide again, Verac's going to come by from the left._

For a while, then, the visions seemed to stop, as Alcana once again zeroed in on the manic rhythm of the game. 

_They're probably just more distractions from...him..._

_Check the orbs, hide from Torag. Hide from Verac again. Check orbs again, rest. Don't let that villain get under your skin. By Saradomin's wisdom I will conquer this._

As she once again had a near miss with Karil going through the room, another whisper went through her mind which made her hair stand on end.

_Please don't blame us...._

It was still from one of the wights, no doubt, but for some reason intuition told her it was different from some of the other voices she had heard. Perhaps it was from one that wasn't affected by the curse as long...the mysterious seventh wight.

She wondered then as in a chance glance the light from one of the orbs lit up the figure of the mysterious ghost, which against her better mind she stared at and determined was a Saradominist cleric of some kind.

_How dare he...._ She thought, before reason caught up to her again and she hid in the darkness, only for the figure, whoever it was, to look around in the room for her, which out of fear catching up to her led her to dash to the other dark corner of her hiding place. Once again her heart pounded as the wight left the room. Alcana only breathed again when she thought he was gone far enough, which led to her checking the orbs again to make sure one of the other brothers hadn't sneaked in while she was distracted.

After that, there was a lull, exhaustion's reprieve having expired for the pious young adventuress. Once it hit, it made her body feel like a block of concrete to move around, as if suddenly her armor was on again.

_Thank Saradomin....the rats are stirring... I don't know how long that's been going on, but....that  means this cursed night is almost over...Shoot!_

She had to strongly will her cinder block legs to move once as Guthan visited, spear moving about like the needle of a compass, looking about for her in the darkness. She wasn't sure if her heart could even survive pounding this hard. She thought it would explode at some point and then she would lose by default.

_Please, Saradomin, please let this night end..._

After only one routine (if there even was such a thing in this situation), she gave out, a pile of sweat and jittering muscle and bone and organs, having to be careful not to make a sound despite her body feeling like it had a whole atmosphere of air to catch up on.

_I must...not...I must...not....no...._ The visions from earlier in the night seemed to reverberate in her mind, melding together in ways that she tried to push out of her mind. 

But like a blessed light from heaven, the orbs lit up in their rainbow glow, where Alcana let out a breath and inhaled like she hadn't tasted fresh air in years, before collapsing on the ground hyperventilating.

"Well done...Miss Alcanta." She couldn't see the face of her captor, which was preferable under the current circumstances. Still, the sound of Sliske's voice was enough to make her skin crawl again.

"I'm sure you're wondering just who the seventh wight is...well, I don't want to spoil the show for you tomorrow or anything. Despite what you may think of me, I do have standards. There are some amongst my kind that wouldn't let you last this long." Sliske said, in a tone that was gracious in a suspicious way. If she saw his face, he would look somewhat wounded, almost judgmental.

"Anyhow..." He said, with a shift to a more pleasant tone, or as pleasant as he could get. "It'll be one more night, and then I'm afraid we won't see eachother like this anymore. Oh, I know I'll miss it, won't you? But it doesn't mean you won't see me again. Sweet dreams, Miss Alcanta." He said, with a more familiar dramatic flair, before the projection faded out and confetti streamed down, with very meager rations appearing before her.

For a while Alcana's mind was surprisingly calm, perhaps because on some subconscious level she pushed away a lot of what happened until she could sort through it later, once she had gotten out of her temporary prison. She said a small prayer of thanksgiving and supplication before trying to sleep.

_Go to sleep...go to sleep...Conserve what little energy you have left. It's just...for one more day...one more night._


	6. The Fifth Night

~THE FIFTH NIGHT~

She awoke with the night beginning, the all-too-familiar projection functioning like Gielinor's most unpleasant alarm clock at that moment. At the very least, before that time, Alcana had been sleeping pretty well, with a lack of nightmares, something she thanked Saradomin for.

"Wake up, wake up, miss sleepyhead, Miss Alcanta. Here's your last night here. Survive this, and I'll let you go free from this place. Maybe, even, I'll slip in a surprise or two for you to boot. Good luck....I hope to see you again in the morning." The sing-songy voice of Sliske was something she would not miss hearing once this was all over.

Getting herself off the floor and stuffing the rations she had forgotten to eat in her mouth, still somewhat drowsy, she took a moment to readjust to the game again, her adrenaline very depleted from being overclocked the previous nights before despite being asleep for nearly a full day. Drowsiness still hung like a fatigue in her bones, like all the sleep she had missed so far was demanding to be paid back that very moment, much like stopping just short of satisfying a very spoiled child.

She didn't have much time to adjust to being back into the routine, as already Verac seemed to be breathing down her neck, with the angered whispers of the brothers assaulting her mind. She hid quickly enough, certainly, and when she confirmed Verac was gone, she tried to start observing again, but started to worry that one of the ones she couldn't see was just waiting the moment the light flashed again.

_There has to be some easier way to do this...It's a vicious cycle. Look for more brothers, get anxious they'll catch you when you're not looking, which makes you hide, which makes you want to know when you'll have to hide next...and the more I do this, the less energy I have to do it again..._

_No matter. It's just for one more night. One more night. Saradomin will protect his faithful._

She went through the orbs again, praying silently for some kind of a second wind. Or perhaps even a third, fourth, or fifth wave, or whatever point of exhaustion she was at. This thought held her attention even as Guthan and Karil double teamed her, the former probing about the room, the later passing through in a pace slow enough to taunt her.

_You will not win, monster, you will not win! Whatever kind of wretch you happen to be, you will not win!_

More visions began to flash through her mind, those of adventurers in the past who had taken on the barrows, some having succeeded and some dying a gruesome death, others bailed before the situation got too dangerous, abandoning any potential gain but also saving their own lives. While these seemed to be more expected, even pedestrian, Alcana strained to tell the difference between the brothers in the visions and the brothers in her reality. She was tempted to use the lights to check for them again, just to be sure, before forcing herself under pain of eternal slavery to Sliske to not risk doing so, lest they caught her in the moment the lights were on.

_Mom...Dad....I'll see you again. Ashdale, I'll see you again. My friends, I'll see you again. I'll go home to the church, I'll leave a great big offering to show my gratitude. I'll tell everyone about the adventure...I will get home, by Saradomin's wisdom!_

Her resolve strengthening once again, Alcana carried on, still checking orbs, still hiding yet focusing on memories of home in her mind's eye even as she waited in the darkness.

_And maybe one day I'll come back and find some way to defeat this monster and undo this curse on the Barrows. Yes, I'll lay them to rest one day. Yes, I'll go back and do more research...._

Her train of thought was temporarily interrupted by Dharok, from whom she hid once again, though she was surprisingly calm in spirit. Yes, her body was racked exhaustion and would probably need weeks to recover from this completely. Her mind would probably need even more time if it ever could fully recover. 

But this was the eye of the storm. There was calm for Alcana, even if she knew there was a lot more trouble awaiting on the other side. She had lasted through one half of the storm. Indeed, the eye of the storm was also the centerpoint where all the mighty power of the storm was focused around, having an order to it even as it seemed to cause chaos that no man could ordinarily wreak of their own will. 

Sometimes finding order wasn't a matter of first changing the situation, but learning to change one's mind to find order with it, and then letting the order in one's soul naturally flow out to the outside world and tame the chaos without. Yes, this was the way of Saradomin, the way of order. 

_You're not my enemy... Alcana thought, even as she hid from Verac. Indeed, we are more friends and united in belief than we are enemies. You're just under the control of that monster._

Yes, this was the way to hold out against him, through hope, resolve, and piety. Sliske wanted to break her through this game? She would win not through weaponry and violence but by beating him at his own game, within the rules of that game. 

For the first time in what felt like an eternity Alcana smiled a soulful smile, finally mustering the ability to be able to taunt Sliske back.

_You see, Sliske? I'm going to win, by Saradomin's blessing, and there's nothing you can do to stop me now._

Her confidence was reinforced by the fact she noticed the barrows were dead silent.  
Having a marker of time helped even as Ahrim and Torag then tag-teamed her room, the wights visiting her room all the more aggresively. Finally Alcana figured out that at this point all she needed to check were the rooms directly to the left and right of her.

Yes....yes!

Yes, even as she cowered this time from Dharok and Karil. Yes, even as she let her mind drift to the visions she had seen and felt a justified paranoia of Sliske's eyes boring into her every move.

Yes, even as she wondered about the seventh brother as he searched her chamber in the darkness. 

Yes, even as she worried she would slip up once at this late hour and lose everything and even worse, spend her eternity with that wretch. Somehow, the weight of this consideration did not deter her. She just didn't have the time or will to let it.

Yes, she heard the rats begin to stir. Only a few steps removed from victory she was, and this consideration made her heart flutter and buckle down with the rest of her strength for the last fraction of the night.

_I feel like I'm close to passing out...but I must continue. I must. There's no...other choice..._

She tensed up, forcing herself again to check through the right and left orbs, feeling dizzy and starting to confuse further the visions for her reality, as time seemed to slow down and tick on, even the brothers seeming to move more slowly as Alcana's stomach growled and her throat grew dry.

 _You...won't win, monster!_

She ducked into the shadows once again, the whispers now being more of a blessing than a curse. She smiled in the darkness, perhaps delirious and slap happy; she would laugh if it wouldn't get her killed.

_You were wrong, oh how you were wrong...Saradomin is with me! I can feel it!_

In now more of a manic state, energy practically bursting from her, the world that had slown down now sped up to a rapid pace as fear faded away and she felt invincible.  Yes, as the rats stirred the feeling began to buzz through her, as if wanting to burst and bolt everywhere, but it would suffice to channel the energy to dodge and hide even as now three of the brothers, Ahrim, Torag, and Verac stopped by her room.

_No...you can't beat me!_

Once they had left, she grinned again, as madness seemed to finally fully set in. 

_It doesn't matter....I have this won! I have this won!_

Just as the mysterious seventh wight and Dharok made a pass at the chamber, the chamber lit up with rainbow colors, leading to Alcana's face lighting up with mad delight, as the orbs then remained on in the light of a normal lamp.

However, Sliske didn't appear on the projection.

"Huh...?" Alcana said, before then remembering the note she got a few days ago.

_That's right...the puzzle lock..._

After suiting herself in her armor once again and picking the right shape on the door, the door to the treasury unlocked, and she stepped in, then passing through another door to see Sliske waiting in the chamber, clapping slowly for her once again as confetti rained down. The look on his face had an unsettling, almost creepy smile on it. Within the chamber was a large chest that she assumed was the treasury of the Barrows.

"Congratulations....Miss Alcanta. You've won my game. It seems you've proved yourself to be better than most of Gielinor's so-called heroes these days." He said, chuckling. "Now, since you've won my game, why don't you take your prize?" He said, gesturing to the chest, while Alcana's brow furrowed.

"I don't want it. I won't make the same mistake the Brothers made. Just give me my longswords, and promise me you'll never put another adventurer through this again. That's what I want. Not more of your cursed toys." She said, with a resolve that only seemed to amuse the snakelike Mahjarrat further.

"Are you sure? Alright then...way for you to ruin my fun, but I am a Mahjarrat of my word." He said, in a somewhat dejected manner, as he held out his hands and made Alcana's dragon longswords appear again. She took them, though shuddering that they had been in his possession so long.

"So that's what cursed race you belong to..." Alcana muttered to herself. 

"Well, what are you waiting for? Won't you go home now?" Sliske said, holding up one hand.

"Not while you're watching. I will defeat you one day." She said, as if repeating the thought would make it incontrovertible fact.

He laughed again. "Whatever you say, miss adventuress. I'm sure you can find your way out." He said, at which Alcana turned around to see the rope, walking to it and pulling herself up again, crawling out of Verac's tomb and then back out into the Morytanian air, feeling the madness dissolve at least a little.

 _Ashdale...I'm coming home to you._ Invoking the lodestone teleport, Alcana breathed a sigh of relief and warped away.

 

Sliske merely smiled in an unsettling way and crossed his arms when he sensed Alcana had gone.

 

_You may not be a wight and you may have turned down one of my gifts, Miss Alcanta...but I left you with another when you didn't notice. Oh, I'm not finished with you just yet...._


End file.
